1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for transporting products with a linear drive mechanism between a first and a second station, and to a corresponding transporting method.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Apparatuses for transporting products are known in various embodiments from the prior art. Besides the known conveyor belts, recently linear drive mechanisms have increasingly been proposed as transporting apparatuses. From European Patent Disclosure EP 1 123 886 A1, for instance, one such apparatus with a linear drive mechanism is known, in which a continuous conveyor system is embodied as a linear motor, and individual conveyor elements each have a permanent magnet. The linear motor includes a plurality of coils, disposed side by side, which are disposed along the entire continuous conveyor system.
Such transporting apparatuses are used for instance for supplying packaging machines, in particular horizontal bag package making machines or cardboard box machines with unit loads (chocolate bars, bags, bottles). First, metering-in with accumulation being generated can be performed. This method can be used only with products amenable to accumulation, such as bottles. For metering in such products, which enter at various spacings, accumulation and acceleration belts are preferably employed. In the metering-in, the products touch one another with a defined dynamic pressure. Insertion into the actual packaging machine is then effected for instance via a finger chain with appropriate finger pitch. Alternatively, nonaccumulating metering-in can also be performed, and this can be used both with products not amenable to accumulation and with products that are amenable to accumulation. The incoming products do not touch one another, but instead maintain a certain minimum spacing on a belt. By means of highly dynamic, speed-regulated acceleration belts, the products are displaced to the requisite pitch spacing relative to one another and then transferred again, for instance to a finger chain. However, this requires many transfer points and results in a great structural length. Moreover, special format parts are necessary for type of product, so that upon a change of product, there is a corresponding need for resetting. Moreover, smooth products, in particular, can be conveyed only with severe restrictions.